Gen Z young adults who are actively religious and spiritual are more likely than those who are neither to have higher levels of hope in the future of the world, Australia and local communities. However, religious and spiritual identity has little impact on levels of hope in one’s personal future.
In the Australian Community Survey we asked Australians to what extent they felt hopeful they felt about:
- Future of the world
- Future of Australia
- Future of local community
- Personal future
For Australians of all ages, holding fast to faith, connecting with others, and taking action help increase people’s feelings of hope for the future. To analyse the impact of spirituality on hopefulness, we used the four spiritual types, which we have found Australians consistently cluster into: Religious and Spiritual, Moderately Religious and Spiritual, Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR), and Neither Religious or Spiritual. The evidence from our research about all Australians aligns with other studies. People who have faith, and who practice their faith through regular prayer and attending religious services, have higher levels of hope for the future of the world, their communities and their personal future.
We dug deeper to find out how hope and faith intersect for younger Australians. We did a more detailed analysis of the Generation Z cohort - young adults under 30 years - using a combined sample of 472 Gen Z respondents from the 2024 and 2025 Australian Community Surveys.
To test how faith and hope connect, we compared two groups of Gen Z:
1. Religious and Spiritual: Those who identified as actively religious and spiritual
2. Neither: Those who identified as neither religious or spiritual
Results reveal that young adults who are actively religious and spiritual were more likely to express higher levels of hope in three out of four domains: the world, Australia and local community.
When it comes to the future of the world, some 25% of the actively religious/spiritual Gen Z group are hopeful, compared to 12% of Gen Z who are neither.
In considering the future of Australia, some 43% of the actively religious/spiritual Gen Z group are hopeful, compared to 30% of Gen Z who are neither.
Turning their attention to their local community, some 41% of the actively religious/spiritual Gen Z group are hopeful about the future of their local community, compared to 27% of Gen Z who are neither.
Levels of hope in one’s personal future are highest across all four domains with nearly half of all young adults being hopeful or very hopeful. However, in the personal domain the religious and spiritual identity of the young adult made little difference.
